The rise of the global pandemic and the lockdowns implemented around the world had forced every organization to implement work from home culture. Even though the situations are becoming normal, most of the organizations are continuing work from home for the safety of their employees.
Hiring a remote employee can be quite a tedious task and would require the employer to understand certain skillsets and the mindset of the candidates.
Here is a checklist you should consider while hiring remote employees.
Keep an eye on how quickly the candidate responds to the mail and follow up regarding the selection rounds. If he takes some days to respond to the emails or if you find that the candidate hasn’t followed up regarding the job, it shows that he is not much interested in the work profile.
If the Candidate is motivated and loves the job profile, the candidate would be waiting for the emails and would check their email on a regular basis.
If the email hasn’t been received the candidate would follow up regarding the process to know the results. This would show how interested they are to work for the company and job profile and how motivated they are.
Communication skills
A remote employee will have to communicate with other members of the team. Unlike the normal employee and remote employees will have to communicate over emails or other applications which are provided by the company.
You should make sure that the candidate has good written and oral communication skills. If the hired employee has poor communication skills there will be a problem to effectively communicate. The productivity and the quality of the work would reduce.
What’s the biggest benefit you see working remotely
Time management
Time management is one of the basic and most important skills necessary for a remote employee. A remote employee should be able to manage his time and make sure he’ll be able to finish the assigned work on time. The employee will have to handle his personal and professional life in a systematic way.
You should make sure that the employee can differentiate between the personal and professional life and able to manage the time accordingly and not mix both.
You should make sure that your remote employee is independent. The employee should be able to do his research and able to complete his works at the given time. At times when there is a problem to communicate, the employee should be able to work on his own without depending on anyone else. An independent remote employee can be an asset to the company.
Giving a test project
You can give your candidates a test project according to the domains they have applied for. Apart from the technical and interpersonal skills, you can’t hire someone without knowing their skills and knowledge in the specific work domain they have applied for.
Giving a test project also provides you with an idea of how they would be able to manage their time, keep up the deadline, the quality of their work, and a basic idea of their productivity. It would help you understand how their work would be without actually working with them.
Giving a test would help you understand whether he meets the criteria of the remote employee you are looking for.
Candidates with prior experience as remote employees would have the required discipline and motivation to complete the work. They will require very little training and will be able to meet all the above criteria.
Prior experience is a sign that the candidate has the organizational skills which is required to work effectively. Depending on candidates who have prior experience would help in reducing the risks.
Showing results
A remote employee should be oriented in finishing his tasks. A remote employee wouldn’t have a supervisor or anyone to look over him on a daily basis. The employee should be responsible enough to make sure he performs.
He should take action and show the results and not just log in for the work every day. You should make sure you would hire an employee who is a person who takes actions and shows results.
During the interview, you should make sure you get to know about the employee’s past experiences and the results he has obtained from those experiences.
FAQ
What are the best jobs to work remotely?
Teacher, Data Entry, Coding, Medical Billing, Web Developer, Graphic Designer and Freelance Writer are the best jobs to work remotely.
Are remote workers less productive?
Various studies proved that employees felt more productive and more engaged with remote work than work from the office.
Which two tools are most useful to remote employees?
Video Conferencing and Productivity or Project Management Tools are most useful for remote employees.
Conclusion
Finding the ideal remote employees can be hard. But, through the right approach and proper screening process, you will be able to find your desired employees. Even after finding the right employees, you should be able to communicate effectively and ensure that you keep them motivated.
Providing them with the right environment, conducting frequent virtual meetings, virtual team building programme, following up regularly, ensuring that their remuneration is on time, etc. All these would make the employees stay motivated and would make them work collectively in building the company.
In every 10 minutes almost two products, services, or brands have been launched in the year 2020. Even though the pandemic has hit hard to almost all the economies, the businesses have continued their operations and are continuing their path towards growth.
Many businesses have launched their products, services, and brands this year and have got either rewards or have already failed. But what is more important is that every business wants to have sustainability.
Not all products, brands, and services that businesses launch are successful, but you must ensure that your strategies for developing, promoting, and launching the products are strong enough so as to get the attention of the target audience and convert to sales.
Here in this article, you will find tips that will ensure a successful product launch to help in boosting your business.
Making a committed team for your product launch is a very crucial task. You would require individuals who take the responsibility for the work and complete the tasks that are needed to be done. Help them in strategizing and executing the work that is desired. When we commit to a product, the commitment doesn’t end with the end of the product launch, but it carries over the course of the product life cycle.
Committed Team
Such commitment is of great importance for the future of the product, considering its successes, downfalls, and competition in the market. Product launch is a challenging and stressful task but having a strong and supportive team can help you to pay attention to the key areas of satisfying the customers for the product they didn’t know they were waiting for.
Run a Beta Test
Even when you have done enough research and have made the perfect plan for your product launch, it is important that you have a beta test for the product. You can ensure this by letting a few people know about your product to get feedback.
Also by doing so, you can work upon the last-minute changes that you need to do for your product launch and also precisely aim for the audience that you have been looking for as this beta test might build a little excitement and buzz in the market.
Use the Right Marketing Tactics
Product launch is one of the biggest marketing strategies that determine your product reception in the market. Therefore it is vital that every marketing plan is detailed and measured. Your marketing strategies for the product launch should have specific and quantifiable goals. Channels, and a message that you want to convey to the masses.
Go all-in on social media
Today social media is one of the greatest tools to interact with the masses and the audience. While you plan to launch your product, do not forget to go all-in on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. Create contests, polls, or other such activities that can help you in engaging the audience. By conducting such activities the audience may feel like they are a part of the process and this guarantees their presence at your product launch.
Also, social media will help you cater to a large chunk of the audience from where you can get a well established lead base for your business even before the product launch.
Make your product launch worth the wait
Launching a product requires a lot of hard work and effort. It is indeed not a day’s task and after putting in loads of sweats into the product launch your efforts shouldn’t go in vain. You along with your team have to ensure that the launch of your product is worth the wait and worth the hype.
Having confidence in your plan is very important and persistently working towards what needs to be accomplished will mark the success of your product launch. It is necessary that you take care of all the small things that might matter to the success of your launch.
Choose the right Influencers
You need to collaborate with influencers that can impact your target masses. While collaboration can be done in various ways, encourage these influencers to share a review about your product and post it on their social media handles. Over the last few years, the popularity of online influencers have gained the attention of the audience and has helped many businesses to flourish.
Influencer marketing
Having a Post-launch Strategy
Having a feedback mechanism is what will help you in improving the health and growth of your product in the market. One of the best ways to test whether the product vision and customer expectation are in line or not is to take feedback in the best suitable method and channel and then take corrective actions.
Also, positive reviews and recommendations will help you build the trust of customers and potential target audiences on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google Reviews, and so on.
FAQ
How long does a product launch last?
A product launch should last atleast 4 to 7 days. Try to avoid ending your launch on a weekend.
What is the most important step before a new product launch?
The most important step before a new product launch is Research and testing.
Why is Product launch important?
A product launch is as important as the product. A poor product launch will leave customers confused, whereas a successful product launch will result in more sales.
Conclusion
Preparation is always regarded as the key to success. If you are well prepared for your product launch and you follow these basic tips for your product launch, you will achieve success in what you aimed for. A good product launch will help you break into new markets or gain access to new clients, as well as boost sales with current and potential customers.
We all like the tricks and features of anything. With tricks, all the things become simpler. Many people today spend most of their time on YouTube. Almost all people use YouTube for various purposes but most people don’t know about YouTube tricks, hack, and features behind the video, people just seeing the video and passes to the next video. Another category of people who want how to make use of YouTube become worried and they lack knowledge behind YouTube hacks and tricks.
Here we will discuss YouTube hacks, features that will be very useful in day to day watching videos.
You may not know that there is a multitude of keyboard shortcuts available on YouTube, some of which provide functions that are otherwise not accessible on the platform.
Key
Functions
Spacebar
Play or pause a video
k
Play or pause a video in player
m
Mute or unmute a video
Left and right arrow
Jump backward or forward 5 seconds
j
Jump backward 10 seconds
l
Jump forward 10 seconds
,
When video is paused, skip to next frame
Up and down arrow
Increase and decrease volume
>
Speed up video playback rate
<
Slow down video playback rate
1—9
Jump to the 10% to 90% of the video mark
0
Go to the beginning of the video
/
Go to the search box
f
Activate full screen
c
Activate closed captions
2. See the Transcript of Video
Video transcription is the process of translating your video’s audio into text. YouTube automatically creates transcripts for every video created on its platform.
Here’s how to do it:
Click on the More button below the video and select Transcript from the menu.
Video Transcript
3. Create Links that Start at Specific Times
Linking to a specific time in a YouTube video is a great trick for when you just want to show a specific segment of a video—especially if the video is long and the segment that you want to share comes several minutes after it starts playing.
Click Share directly beneath the video.
In the pop-up box, check the box next to Start at.
Set Specific Time
Enter the time you want the video to start. The correct time may already be listed if you pressed the share button at the exact moment you want the video to start.
4. Create a GIF from YouTube Video
You want to turn your favorite part into a funny GIF to share with friends. Or maybe you just want a new GIF. GIFs get a lot of action on social media.
How to create a GIF from a YouTube video:
Open the video.
Add the word “gif” before YouTube in the URL. It should read: www.gifyoutube.com/[VideoID]
Customize your GIF.
5. Translate Video Titles and Descriptions
YouTube is expanding its translation tools to cover the video titles and descriptions as well. With the feature now available, it will probably prove to be mutually beneficial for all parties involved. The ability to have their content be made accessible to a wider range of audiences.
Here’s how to add the translations to your YouTube videos:
Sign in to YouTube Studio.
From the left menu, select Subtitles.
Select a video.
If you haven’t selected the language for a video, you’ll be asked to choose the language. Click Confirm.
Select Add language and choose the language you’d like to translate to.
Under Title & description, select Add.
Enter the translated title and description. Press Publish.
Thumbnails are reduced-size versions of images or videos that originally got their name from being about the size of a human thumbnail. They’re easier to scan and organize than their full-size. Thumbnails help YouTube decide how to rank your video.
Copy the Video ID ( after this part of youtube. com/watch?v=).
Paste the VideoID here (https://img.youtube.com/vi/youtube-video-id/maxresdefault.jpg).
Put the full link into your browser.
Save the image.
7. Share Auto-Subscribe Link
When your YouTube channel is used for monetization, it is crucial to add as many subscribers as possible to generate revenue and to promote channel visibility, as well as awareness and recognition. YouTube has provided a simple and updated way for you to increase the number of subscribers to your channel with a URL modifier.
This subscription link provides a way for your audience to subscribe to your channel with no effort involved by simply clicking on the link.
Follow these steps to create a link that opens with an automatic subscribe prompt:
Find your channel ID or Custom URL. From your channel page (https://www.youtube.com/user/[Channel ID])
Copy and paste or type in the modifier ?sub_confirmation=1 at the end of your channel name to look like this: (https://www.youtube.com/user/[Channel ID]?sub_confirmation=1)
Now use this as a link for your audience to automatically subscribe to your YouTube channel in video descriptions, emails, social media, websites, and blogs
8. Add Cards to Videos
Cards can make your video more engaging and cross-promote other content. In YouTube, the audience’s engagement is extremely valuable. For that, YouTube itself provides some features that increase the engagement level between your channel and viewer. YouTube Cards add more visual components with underlying objectives to you.
You can add five different types of YouTube cards to your videos:
Video or playlist: Promote your video content.
Channel: Promote another channel.
Donation: Feature a nonprofit or cause of your choice and encourage donations.
Poll: Encourage viewers to engage in a multiple-choice poll.
Link: Link to an approved website off of YouTube.
How to add cards to your YouTube videos:
Sign in to YouTube Studio.
Select Videos from the left menu.
Click the video you’d like to edit.
Click the Cards box.
Select Add card. Then, select Create.
Customize your card and click Create card.
Adjust the time for the card to appear below the video
Add YouTube Cards
9. Create Closed Captions to Improve Accessibility and SEO
Closed captions or subtitles make your content available to a larger audience. That includes viewers that are deaf or hard of hearing, or people watching the video with sound off. As a bonus, this also improves the search engine optimization ranking for your video.
You can either create subtitles or closed captions on YouTube, or upload a transcript file. Latter will be useful, you can save the file as you go and store it as a backup in case the video gets deleted by mistake.
Two ways of adding captions to videos can improve your search engine rankings.
Improving search engine visibility
Improving audience engagement
How to create subtitles or closed captions:
Sign in to YouTube Studio.
From the left menu, select Subtitles.
Click the video that you’d like to edit.
Click Add Language and select your language.
Under subtitles, click Add.
Enter your captions as the video plays.
How to upload a transcript:
Sign in to YouTube Studio.
From the left menu, select Videos.
Click on the title or thumbnail of a video.
Select More options.
Select Upload subtitles/cc.
Choose between With timing or Without timing. Select Continue.
YouTube Premieres lets you and your viewers watch and experience a new video together. Whereas if you premiere your post, your viewers will get a heads up of what new content is coming and when it will be available making them more likely to come back and tune in. So the premiere live streams the video initially, but after its runtime, it becomes a regular YouTube video.
Premieres are a mix between a live stream and a traditional YouTube video. You prerecord them, but then play those recordings live, with live chat and donations like standard live streams.
How to premiere a video on YouTube:
Visit youtube.com/upload.
Select your video to upload and fill in the video details.
On the Preview & Publish tab, select Set as a Premiere.
Choose between Start immediately and Schedule for a later date.
Select Done to complete the upload process.
When the premiere starts:
A countdown will show during the first 2 minutes of the premiere.
When the countdown is over, viewers watch the video together in real-time.
Viewers can’t scrub forward, but they can scrub backwards during the stream.
The concurrent viewers count shows the number of viewers watching.
You can continue to interact with your audience in comments and live chat (if eligible).
11. Keep Viewers Watching with Playlists
A playlist is a collection of videos. Playlists can include videos from your channels or others. Playlists are usually used to organize videos with similar content. Playlists allow viewers to have what YouTube describes as a “lean-back” experience. Watch-time is an important ranking factor on YouTube. This means YouTube increases the rankings of videos that retain viewers for a long time. Playlists auto-play to the next video. As a result, viewers tend to watch more videos per sitting. Therefore, playlists improve search rankings by increasing YouTube watch-time.
Use YouTube Analytics to determine how your playlists are doing. Go to Traffic sources and YouTube Playlists. It is one of the best YouTube hacks for views. You can track the number of views, minutes watched, and average view duration. The goal is to change your playlist strategies if the results are disappointing. Playlists are a great way to retain viewers to your channel.
How to create a playlist:
Find a video you want in the playlist.
Under the video, click Save.
Click Create a new playlist.
Enter a playlist name.
Click Create.
If you’re looking to grow your presence on YouTube, playlists can be a collaborative tool, too.
How to add collaborators to a playlist:
Sign in to YouTube Studio.
Select Playlists.
Click Edit next to the appropriate playlist.
Below the playlist’s title, click More.
Select Collaborate.
Slide on Collaborators can add videos to this playlist.
Turn on Allow new collaborators.
Copy the playlist link and share it with the people you want to collaborate with.
12. Blur Objects or Faces in Videos
You don’t need expensive editing software to blur moving objects or faces in your YouTube video. The blur tool comes in handy when someone in your video decides that they want to stay anonymous. To reduce the risk of identity theft and violation, the platform has created a tool for blurring objects and faces in creators’ videos. The tool is free to use and easy to find in the YouTube Studio.
If you want to blur anything other than a face, your best option is to use YouTube’s custom blur tool. This feature allows you to place circular or rectangular blurs over different objects in a video.
Custom blur:
Sign in to YouTube Studio.
Select Videos.
Click the video you’d like to edit.
Select Editor.
Click Add Blur.
Next to Custom blurring click Edit.
Hover over the video and click Pause.
Click and drag the box to adjust the blur.
Click Done.
Click Save.
Here’s how to blur faces:
Sign in to YouTube Studio.
Select Videos.
Click the video you’d like to edit.
Select Editor.
Click Get Started.
Click Add Blur.
Next to Blur faces click Edit.
Once processing is complete, click the thumbnails of the faces you’d like to blur.
Click Save.
Click Save again.
How to Blur Faces and Objects
13. Add Custom Subscribe Button to Videos
You can encourage viewers to subscribe to your channel by adding a branding watermark to your videos. This kind of branding watermark is often called a custom subscribe button. When you add a subscribe button on your YouTube videos, viewers can directly subscribe to your channel if they hover over the subscribe button when using YouTube on a computer.
How to do it:
Sign in to YouTube Studio.
Select Settings.
Select Channel and then Branding.
Select Choose image. Upload the image you’d like to use as your branding watermark.
Select the display time for the branding watermark. You can choose the entire video, a custom time, of the last 15 seconds of the video.
Save changes.
14. Pin Comment to Top of Feed
Being able to determine the first comment your viewers see is a great way to prompt viewers to check out related videos on your channel. This is a very easy way to promote related content you want your viewers to watch, prompt them to subscribe to your channel or link them to your website.
Here’s how to pin a comment:
Go to your Community tab.
Select the comment you want to pin.
Click More and then, Pin.
Pin a comment
15. Download Royalty-Free Sound Effects and Music
The music library includes songs in just about every genre and mood. Among the sound effects, you’ll find everything from laugh tracks to an old engine sputter.
How to do it:
Sign in to YouTube Studio.
From the left menu, select Audio library.
Choose Free music or Sound effects from the upper tabs.
Preview tracks by clicking the Play icon.
Click the arrow to download the track you’ve chosen.
Post-Graduation has become a basic degree which is required to land in a job. Finding a job with a decent salary without a Post-Graduation has become harder year by year. Even an Individual already working in a company would require a PG certificate for his/her promotion.
In such an environment choosing the right Business school has become a hard task for the students. India has a lot of Business Schools providing Post Graduation. There are around 5,500 colleges in the country.
Here are some of the best Business schools in India
IIM Ahmedabad started its operation from the year 1961. It is an Autonomous University located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. IIM Ahmedabad is India’s best Business School and it has been featured twice as the top B-School in the list of NIRF.
MBA courses offered by IIM Ahmedabad
According to 2020, it is rated as one of the top colleges in India by NIRF. The oldest, flagship MBA Programme is what IIM Ahmedabad is popularly known for. It is ranked #20 globally by financial times for Masters in Management. IIM faculties have an average of 10-20 years of work experience in study research and MNC’s.
The average fee for the Programme varies from INR 10 Lakhs to 28 Lakhs. The average remuneration received through the placements in 2020 is INR 40-45 Lakhs P.A.
IIM Bangalore started its operation from the year 1973. It is also an Autonomous University in Bannerghatta, Bangalore. IIM Bangalore is one of the leading institutes for management studies in Asia. It was also ranked as one of the best colleges by NIRF in 2020. It was 2nd in the list.
The MBA Programme has a lot of selection rounds. Only 400 students will be selected per year out of Lakhs of applicants in and across the country. The college offers a lot of scholarship programs as well.
MBA Courses Offered by IIM Bangalore
The fees for the programs vary from around INR 19 Lakhs to INR 28 Lakhs. The average remuneration received through the placements in 2020 is INR 28 Lakh P.A.
IIM Bangalore have student exchange programs with various universities across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The institution also has key partnerships and collaborations with various companies to promote entrepreneurship and developing new ventures. The companies include Goldman Sachs, NITI Aayog, and Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.
IIM Bangalore is working towards developing another campus in Bangalore.
Indian Institute of Management (Calcutta)
IIM Calcutta is the second institution under the IIM to be developed in India. It started its operation in the year 1961. The institution has continuously been ranked #3 by NIRF in the last 5 years. IIM Calcutta had been ranked #44 by Financial Times worldwide. According to outlook Icare ranking 2021, the institution is among the top 3 institutions in India.
MBA courses offered in IIM Calcutta
IIM Calcutta is well known for its MBA Programme. The institution also provides doctoral programs and Certificate courses in Management. The faculties in the institution have experience of over 10-20 years in study research and MNC’s.
The fees for the programs vary between INR 11 Lakhs to 27 Lakhs. The college provides a scholarship of almost 3-4 lakhs. The average remuneration received through the placements in 2020 is INR 27.8 Lakhs P.A.
ISB started its operation in the year 2001. Indian School of Business is situated in the city Hyderabad, Telangana. As per Forbes’s recent ranking, the institution is ranked 7th all over the world. This business school provides courses in the field of management. It is a Autonomous Institution which is private.
MBA Courses offered by Indian school of business
It was given the ranking of 12 for MBA by Times of India in 2019. The institution tops in the Economist MBA ranking in 2021. It is ranked #6 Business School in Asia. ISB has 18 Research centers and institutes. The institution provides a wide range of Scholarships to its students including merit scholarships.
The fees for the Programme vary between INR 10 Lakhs to INR 47 lakhs. The average remuneration received through the placements in 2020 is INR 25.7 Lakhs P.A.
Xavier School of Management
Xavier School of Management started its operation from the year 1949. It is situated in the city Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. The college holds the 9Th position for the ranking by NIRF 2020 for MBA.
The institution is popularly known for offering courses for graduates and working professionals. It offers PG programs, Diploma and certificate programs below the domain of Management.
MBA courses offered by Xavier School of Management
The college has tie-ups with a lot of international Universities for student exchange programs. The institution has a campus in New Delhi as well.
The fee for the Programme varies between INR 3 Lakhs to 20.95 Lakhs. Students will receive a scholarship of about INR 1.75 Lakhs. The average remuneration received through the placements in 2020 is INR 20.08 Lakhs P.A.
FAQ
Which is the number 1 business school in the world?
Stanford University is ranked as the number 1 business school in the world.
How many Business schools are there in India?
India has more than 6,000 business schools offering PGDM & MBA.
Which is the most Expensive school in India?
Doon School, Dehradun is one of the most expensive schools in India with a school fee of Rs. 10,25,000/- per annum.
Conclusion
There are a lot of other well-known colleges which provide Management programs including IIM’s and IIT’s. However, you should make sure you should go through the selection rounds and start preparing for it. Early preparations for the exams will make it easy for you to get through and secure a seat in your dream college.
Cybersecurity is at the tipping point entering 2021. Advances in AI and ML are accelerating its technological progress. Technology which can take us forward and empower us, can also show the flip side that is Cyber Crime. By creating cybersecurity systems that encourage diversity and value equality, we can help ensure that technology, innovation, and the future, will be better. We’ve listed technology used in cyber security in this article.
These evolving Cyber security technologies list can help protect your organization.
The future of cybersecurity is in high-speed quantum encryption as Cyber war-fare gets graver day-by-day.
If we look at some trends, then it’s observed that cybercrime is costing organizations on average $3.9 million of data breaches every year around the world. Global scalability of Cybercrime is becoming easier for attackers, as criminals find new business models. It is one of the reasons that 55% of the organizations work together with external partners to reduce security risks.
Technology and security go hand in hand. There’s always have been a war between data defenders and data thieves, so you have to take a stand and be infosec warriors. Here is list of top 5 emerging security technologies that may be of great help.
Top 5 Emerging Technologies That Are The Future Of Cybersecurity
Hardware Authentication
Hardware Authentication is the future of cybersecurity. This approach is used as user authentication that relies on a device like smartphones, laptops, or any hardware systems held by an authorized user. This could be in the form of a basic password or fingerprints to grant access to the device.
The dearth of usernames and passwords are well known, so, a more secure form of authentication is needed. Hardware authentication is an important feature for the Internet of Things (IoT), where a network wants to ensure that the thing trying to gain access to it is something that should have access to it.
One limitation of hardware authentication devices is that they can be lost or stolen, which can create login issues for users.
AI is compared as technology that appears to emulate human performance typically by learning, including conclusions, analyzing complex content, engaging in natural dialog with people, enhancing human cognitive performance and, the major one is replacing people on execution of non-routine tasks.
AI technologies can be used to protect data against increasingly sophisticated and malicious malware, ransomware, and social engineering attacks. AI is not conscious yet, but there is likely a future in AI cognitive autonomy in predicting and mitigating cyber-attacks.
Rediscover the technology behind cybersecurity
If we look otherwise AI and ML go hand in hand in every respect. It basically gets a computer to act without much programming. It combines with AI and is one of the rapid automation of predictive analytics.
ML can provide the fastest way to identify new cyber-attacks, draw statistical inferences, and push that information to endpoint security platforms. Threat intelligence is one of the special cases where AI and ML can be an important functionality for cybersecurity. AI and ML could help with identity management by cross-checking the veracity of data across multiple fragmented databases. Hence, AI and ML are definitely the future of the cybersecurity.
% of AI Cybersecurity for the folloeing areas in organisation
Automated and Adaptive Networks
Automated networks can change the future of cybersecurity. Automation allows for scanning and monitoring of connected networks that can report on deviations and anomalies in real-time. The automatic updating of Defence framework layers i.e. network, endpoint, firewalls, payload and anti-virus; and diagnostic and forensics analysis for cybersecurity. AI and ML can be one of the major components and support applications of these networks.
Cyber Security Competence Survey in different areas
Blockchain Cybersecurity
It is one of the potentially strong cybersecurity technologies that’s rising stupendously. The blockchain technology works on the basis of identification between two transaction parties so this type of security works on the basis of peer-to-peer fundamentals. It offers authentication and resolving a single point of attack simultaneously.
With the help of blockchain technology, a security system used in a company can leverage a distributed public key infrastructure for authenticating devices and users. The use of Blockchain technology with AI can set-up a robust authenticated verification system to keep potential cyber threats at bay. It’s the future of cybersecurity.
Zero Trust model is a response to a breakdown in traditional security models. The zero-trust security model is based on the principle of maintaining strict access controls and not trusting anyone by default, even those already inside the network perimeter. The goal is to use authentication throughout the course to re-ensure security—but in a thoughtful and limited manner, to avoid unduly burdening the user. The key is to know when a re-authentication has actually become necessary due to some malicious or simply anomalous event taking place. This is how the combination of identity technology with application and API protection technology comes into play.
In spite of these technologies and many more upcoming smart cybersecurity techniques, organizations do face a lot of phishing scams. So, have you ever wondered how these Malware actually look like or what are the challenges?
Challenges That Organizations Face With Cybersecurity
Continuous Security Incidences And Breaches
Ineffective Responses And Security Protocols
Too Few Responders are Available for 24/7 Support
Employees are Afraid of Security Threats at Work
Many Organizations are still Unprepared For Security Threats
Phishing Scammers Target Senior Decision-Makers
Increased Weekly Volume of Suspicious Emails
Lack of Training about Security Threats and Scams
To Strengthen Cybersecurity
The upsurge in technology and digital connectivity and more and more cyber-threats has promulgated the need for smart cybersecurity. Smart Cybersecurity is an intellect reflex to manage risk by lessening security gaps that often occurred by reliance on manual processes that are impacted by a continual cybersecurity skills shortage and the administrative burdens of data security management.
A myriad of upcoming technologies can help us enhance cybersecurity and guide the increasingly malicious and disruptive cyber threat landscape.
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
Does cybersecurity have a future?
Cybersecurity is at the tipping point entering 2020. Advances in AI and ML are accelerating its technological progress. Technology which can take us forward and empower us, can also show the flip side that is Cyber Crime. By creating cybersecurity systems that encourage diversity and value equality now, we can help to ensure that technology, innovation, and the future, will be better.
Will cybersecurity die?
Cybersecurity will never die. Cybersecurity is at the tipping point entering 2020. Advances in AI and ML are accelerating its technological progress. Technology which can take us forward and empower us, can also show the flip side that is Cyber Crime. By creating cybersecurity systems that encourage diversity and value equality now, we can help to ensure that technology, innovation, and the future, will be better.
Is cybersecurity a good field?
Yes, definitely cybersecurity is one of the growing things in India. Cybersecurity is at the tipping point entering 2020. Advances in AI and ML are accelerating its technological progress.
Why AI is the future of cybersecurity?
AI is compared as a technology that appears to emulate human performance typically by learning, including conclusions, analyzing complex content, engaging in natural dialogs with people, enhancing human cognitive performance and, the major one is replacing people on execution of non-routine tasks. AI technologies can be used to protect data against increasingly sophisticated and malicious malware, ransomware, and social engineering attacks. AI is not conscious yet, but there is likely a future in AI cognitive autonomy in predicting and mitigating cyber-attacks.
Will AI take over cyber security?
No, AI technologies can be used to protect data against increasingly sophisticated and malicious malware, ransomware, and social engineering attacks but cannot fully overtake cybersecurity. AI is not conscious yet, but there is likely a future in AI cognitive autonomy in predicting and mitigating cyber-attacks.
“Automation is cost-cutting by tightening the corners and not cutting them” – Haresh Sippy.
For most businesses, automation seems like a want – tucked away in their long-term plan. For becoming a strategic enabler of market control, moving automation up the ladder by a few years and reprioritizing it as a need could be the difference between success and failure.
There’s a strong reason why 40% of large companies automate at least one of their processes. When we speak of automation, we refer to a system capable of performing repetitive tasks with no errors. As companies worldwide strive hard to adjust to the pandemic-related changes, automation usage is growing at an accelerating rate.
From customer service, project planning to usability testing, and marketing, you can automate your business processes. Apart from mitigating human errors, automation helps satisfy client needs, minimize operational costs, and optimize business workflow. As you seek out processes to automate, you will understand that everything cannot be automated, and you shouldn’t automate everything – things like personal touch are irreplaceable even by automation. With $9.6 billion being the likely spending on automation in 2020 alone, NOW is the right time to embrace process automation for a flourishing business.
4 Processes You Can Automate in Your Business in 2021
Companies with highly automated processes are six times more likely to witness 15% and above revenue growth. Make hay while the sun shines and focus on ensuring you automate these four processes in your business in 2021.
1. Compliance process
With data compliance laws like CCPA being stringent and stakes incredibly high, it becomes a daunting task for companies to eliminate everything which comes in their way of conformity.
Though companies use a complete CCPA guide to maintain compliance and avoid lawsuits, their efforts are often jeopardized by inaccurate reporting and failure to comply with the updated regulation – resulting in financial losses and tarnishing of brand image.
That’s where you need compliance automation.
Through compliance automation, you eliminate as much human intervention as possible from a workflow. Such an enhancement delivers accurate results, increases performance efficiency, reduces cost, and eliminates severe data breaching penalties.
Advantages of automating the compliance process:
Enhances risk management decisions as you get real-time data.
Consolidates all data in a single control center.
Automates the auditing and reporting process.
Efficient management of your company’s potential risk.
Verifies compliance requirements and manages all third-party risks.
Statistics: 90% of companies plan to increase their compliance automation funding in the coming years.
Irrespective of the industry, you require the desired level of user experience for ensuring commercial success. It’s the user experience that ensures your design or product performs in the market as expected.
Without user testing, your user experience (UX) design is incomplete. With technological advancement, UX testing has become more critical than ever, and it exists at every level of design and software development. But, there’s no point performing the same UX testing procedure repeatedly as it’s a mundane and time-consuming process.
That’s where user testing automation comes into the picture.
User testing process
User testing software, along with meaningful user testing questions, empowers you to automate research processes, especially when working with remote participants. It helps you connect with participants, automatically collect data, understand design areas where customers struggle and areas where they hit their goals. This helps in building a better product and enhances the overall customer experience.
Advantages of automating the user testing process:
Manual testing requires more software testers and time; automation reduces both the resources. Unlike manual tests, you can leave automated tests unattended.
Though the initial investment is on a higher side, it drastically cuts down long-term business operating costs.
Reduces the number of errors that need fixing after product release.
Ensures a higher rate of investment in design.
Stimulateshundreds of virtual participants, thereby ensuring performance and stress testing.
Statistics: 70% of enterprise CEO’s see UX as a competitive differentiator. User testing automation will only elevate these figures.
3. Project planning process
In the project planning phase, nothing can be more irritating than spending hours on time-consuming manual tasks.
Let’s understand it using a project plan example. You have assigned tasks to your employees at the starting of the week. But, mid-week, you come up with an unavoidable work, which you should assign to the work overloaded staff. One way is to check each employee’s progress manually; the other is through project planning automation. Such automation software helps you monitor resource load and send out a signal every time an employee is overloaded with work.
project planning process
Automating a project planning process reduces manual intervention when managing resources, reporting, tracking, and quality control.
Advantages of automating project planning process:
Reduces the repetitive routine tasks.
Helps in providing technical scalability.
Lets the project manager focus on priority tasks.
Fosters a culture of effective communication as it centralizes the work status report of each team member.
Identifies and creates an opportunity for efficiency gains.
Alerts project managers when a workflow is going off-budget or off the timeline
Enhances risk assessment and reduces the scope for errors.
In the technological world, your customers hate waiting to speak to a customer service representative. When wait time is too long, customers usually disconnect the call and probably switch to other brands or leave a negative review wherever possible.
Automating the customer service process helps mitigate the chances of losing a customer due to higher wait times.
customer service automation
You can take customer service to the next level by using a chatbot that allows a customer to self-manage and submit tickets without speaking to a human representative. You can even use a live chat with artificial intelligence (AI) to answer customer’s questions.
Both chatbots and live chats pass on the complex calls to human workers, thereby keeping the wait time as little as possible.
Advantages of automating customer service process:
Reduces human errors
Minimizes the wait time for customers
Ensures a consistent workflow
Increases customer retention
Reduces cost as employees save 600 hours each week when using an automated system.
Statistics: More than 60% of US customers prefer automated self-service for simple customer service tasks.
Just like Rome wasn’t built in a day, you cannot automate your business processes in a single day. When running a business, it’s easy to get carried away by the daily tasks making automation seem like an uphill challenge.
Never wait for the processes to cost more than the revenue they generate to automate. The sooner you embrace automation for some or all your process, the faster you will reap substantial benefits.
Having an explicit knowledge of what you want to achieve through business process automation lets you remain on-goal. It’s a powerful technology that enables efficiency, increases productivity, reduces cost, and above all, results in efficiency gains – a must-have for maintaining competitive advantage.
Automation empowers you to extract the maximum from your operational processes.
Ans- Business processes are the collection of tasks that an organization performs for operations and management, including order processing, customer acquisition, budgeting, expense management, customer support, and marketing campaigns.
4. Why we need to automate the process?
Ans- Automation leads to faster processing of voluminous tasks and reduced turnaround timelines. A reduction in enterprise costs and the time involved in executing operational activities leads to improved workflow efficiencies.
5. Is Automation good for the economy?
Ans- Automation leads to significant economies of scale – important in industries which require high capital investment. Automation enables firms to reduce number of workers, and this limits the power of trades unions and potentially disruptive strikes. Automation also enables a greater economy of scope.
Tesla Inc. is a US based Electric Vehicle manufacturing and clean energy company which is located in California. The company was founded in the year 2003 by American entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. It is named after Nikola Tesla who was an inventor and an electrical engineer. Elon Musk is the CEO of the company since 2008.
The main aim of the company is to increase and improve sustainable transport and energy. Tesla has entered India and has registered its company in January. Their manufacturing unit is located in Bangalore, Karnataka.
Tesla has appointed David Jon Feinstein who is a Global senior director of Tesla, Vaibhav Taneja who is a Chief accounting officer, and Venkatarangam Sreeram who is an entrepreneur as the directors of the Indian subsidiary.
Buying Tesla in India has been a hard task with just a few people in the country owning it. Mukesh Ambani who owns a Tesla Model S, Riteish Deshmuk who owns a Tesla Model X, and Prashant Ruia who owns Tesla model X.
When Tesla announced model 3 in 2016 to the world, they had considered India and started accepting reservations from the country. Vishal Gondal and many others had registered it from India. They paid an amount of $1,000 for the registration.
Back then India’s import duty was high that is up to 100% import duty for any car costing above INR 27 lakh and any car which cost lesser had an import duty of 60%.
The cheapest model of Tesla is Tesla Model 3 which would cost around INR25 lakhs in the global market. In India, there would be an additional 60% import duty on the vehicle. This will make the car costlier and unaffordable in India.
However, later it was found that having a plant in India and importing around 15% would help in reducing the price. The government also reduced the GST on Electric Vehicles from 12% to 5% and on charges which were 18% reducing it to the rate of 5%.
Elon Musk the CEO of Tesla said that the current changes in the sales tax give them hope for the changes in the future. This led to the registration of the company Tesla in India.
Best-selling electric vehicle models worldwide in 2020
Tesla Model 3 is believed to be launched by June 2021 with an ex-showroom price of INR 60 Lakhs. In India, it is expected to be launched in two variants namely Standard Plus and Long Range. Standard Plus would have a range of up to 423 km on a single charge. Long range would have a range of 568 km on a single charge.
Tesla Model S
Tesla Model S is a sedan that is believed to be launched in India by the end of July 2021. The ex-showroom price of this sedan model would be around INR 1.50 Crores. It is expected to have three different variants namely long range, plaid, and plaid+.
Long range would have a range of up to 660 km on a single charge and it comes with a dual-motor setup. Plaid would have a range of 627 km with a tri-motor setup and plaid+ will also have a tri-motor setup with a range of 837 km in a single charge.
Tesla Model X
Tesla Model X will be an SUV, it is expected to be launched in India by January 2022. The ex-showroom price of this SUV model would be around INR 2.00 Crores. It has 5 seating, 6 seating, and 7 seating models. It is expected to have two variants namely long range and plaid.
Long range would have a range of up to 579 km in a single charge and it comes with a dual-motor setup. Plaid would come with a tri-motor setup and have a range of up to 547 km in a single charge.
In the United States of America in the year 2020, out of all the vehicles sold only 1.3% were Electric Vehicles, and out of that 1.3%, 90% were Tesla models. The key reason for such demand for vehicles is their electric charging stations.
Tesla’s electric charging stations provide fast charging facilities and that is the unique selling point of Tesla vehicles. While other Electric Vehicles may take hours to charge, Tesla provides its charging station which provides fast charging facilities.
Tesla may come up with the fast-charging stations in India as well. India can expect it in the coming years after the launch of their different vehicle models. The government has plans to install one e-charging point in 69,000 petrol pumps.
There is an increase in air pollution and fuel prices are rising in the country. Hence there is a need for the government as well as the consumers to shift to Electric Vehicles. This act as an advantage for Tesla in India.
FAQ
Who is the Founder of Tesla?
Tesla was founded in 2003 by American entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.
Who was the first CEO of Tesla?
Martin Forest Eberhard was the first CEO of Tesla till 2008.
What companies has Tesla bought?
Tesla owns SolarCity Corp, Maxwell Technologies Inc, Grohmann Engineering, Perbix Machine Co. Inc. and Hibar Systems Ltd.
Conclusion
Tesla has a wide range of products. Tesla is not just a car manufacturing company. They provide different products which include Powerwall which helps to store solar energy and energy from renewable resources, solar panels, and solar roof tiles which can be used instead of a normal roof. Solar roof tiles help in generating solar energy.
Bitcoin is a digital coin and it is considered as one of the best investment instruments by the Millennials. Bitcoin is a virtual currency that depends on blockchain technology. It is used to make purchases but mostly it is considered an investment option.
Bitcoin has provided an amazing return over the years. It has provided a return of about 204% in 2020. The price of one bitcoin has crossed more than 29 Lakhs and it is considered as one of the favorite investment options for GenZ.
Bitcoin is the first Cryptocurrency and is believed to be found by Satoshi Nakamoto. Even though cryptocurrencies are used to make purchases it is not accepted as the mainstream payment yet.
Retail investors are investing in bitcoins after seeing huge returns. Some years ago, investing in bitcoin was considered hard and was mostly for techies. But now, with the emerging of new startups, investing in bitcoin has become easy. Venture Capitalists are funding such startups which aim at making the investment much easier.
A retail investor can invest in bitcoin through the below ways
P2P transactions are Person to Person transactions. It is a transaction between 2 individuals. If you don’t prefer using an App or paying a transactional fee then you can find a person who is interested to sell his bitcoins and buy it from him. It is considered hard to find a like minded person and it is time consuming. You wouldn’t find a seller as easy as you can find one on the exchange.
Person to Person Transaction
Method to invest
If you would want to buy bitcoins through P2P method then you will have to consult a cryptocurrency exchange/platform. They will act as a coordinator. The exchanges will help you find a seller who is interested according to your requirements. Again, the process would take a lot of time to find the ideal person. This method is more direct.
Bitcoin Mining is the way you earn bitcoins. Bitcoin Mining is considered as a profession. The main role of a bitcoin miner is to record the bitcoin transactions. Bitcoins are decentralized which means it doesn’t have a legal body to regulate it. Bitcoin Miners act as an accountant where they keep a record of the transaction as it happens.
Bitcoin Mining
Bitcoin miners will be paid in bitcoins once they successfully complete adding a block of transactions. Bitcoins are recorded using blockchain technology. It is said that in every 10 minutes a block is added.
In the beginning it was easier to mine the bitcoins as the demand increased, bitcoin mining has become more complex as it requires really good software and specific skills which makes it difficult for a common man.
A Cryptocurrency exchange is similar to a stock exchange platform. You will be able to buy and sell bitcoins though a cryptocurrency exchange. There are a lot of mobile application in India which helps you to invest in Bitcoin.
Cryptocurrency exchanges are operational for 24 hours and you can place order anytime. It is decentralized and is not controlled by any central authorities. You can start investing in bitcoins by buying a part of it. The investment can start with a small amount of INR 500.
Cryptocurrency Exchanges
You should make sure that you buy bitcoins through a trusted exchange or an app. Some of the apps which helps you invest in bitcoins are Zebpay, UnoCoin, Coinsecure etc. Choosing the right platform is the hardest task. The exchanges may charge a small fee for their services. The easiest way for an individual to invest in bitcoins is through the exchange. It is the simplest way to invest.
KYC process
You will have to find the exchange of your choice and later complete the KYC (Know Your Customer) process.
You will have to verify your documents such as PAN card, Aadhar card etc. It is mainly to avoid unlawful usage of the currencies.
For the KYC process you will have to provide your details such as
Your full name.
2. Address and Date of birth as it appears in your documents.
3. You will later have to upload your KYC document in a scanned format.
Once the above steps are completed you will be able to open your account.
FAQ
Is Bitcoin a good investment?
Bitcoin is an extremely risky investment that may or may not pay off.
Can we Invest in Bitcoin in India?
You can Buy/Sell Fractional shares of Bitcoin via an Exchange.
Who is the richest Bitcoin owner?
According to a New research from Traders of Crypto Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin, who is rumored to own around 1 million Bitcoins.
Conclusion
Cryptocurrency is one of the fastest growing asset class. Bitcoin has around 69% of the market share of Cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin was introduced as an asset to beat inflation. The number of bitcoins is limited and hence it helps in beating the inflation. A perfect cryptocurrency exchange is one which is flexible, simple and accessible. Many platforms are highly technical but at the same time there are many platforms which are easy to use.
While choosing your platform make sure it is easy to use and try staying away from platforms which does not have a KYC. It may not be secure.
Any returns you receive from bitcoin is taxable. You are taxed up to 30% for short-term gains and up to 20% for long term. Make sure you do your research before investing in bitcoin as it is highly volatile. It is always better to start with a very less amount of money.
Ever wonder how businesses work? What goes on behind-the-scenes? How Google makes money? Or how there’s a McDonald’s a stone’s throw from wherever you are! Every business follows a certain style of working. And that style is its business model.
A business model is a framework that defines how you generate long-term value in terms of revenue by providing value (products/services) to your customers. Here, comes an exhaustive but hopefully not exhausting list of business models that various companies have adopted and modified according to their needs. I bet my non-existent Cadillac that you have heard of them.
These are the oldest and most basic business model types. They were popular before the time of computers and spreadsheets. All subsequent models evolved from:
Manufacturer: Conversion of raw materials or assembly of pre-made parts into finished goods is the job description here. The sales can be taken care of by the parent company or outsourced. Say, cement manufacturers.
Distributor: This person acts as the in-between for manufacturers and retailers/customers. For example, auto dealerships.
Retailer: Through a physical or online location, the retailer purchases products from the manufacturer/distributor and sells them to the public.
1. Hidden Revenue Business Model
“Google, Facebook“ I’m sure you wonder how the owners of Google and Facebook are oh-so-rich when you have probably never paid a cent to use their services. Consider google. It charges its users not in money but in data. The keywords searched are sold to the highest bidder who then sends you ads relevant to your searches.
Also, the ads you see on many webpages are ‘spaces’ rented out to advertisers. Every click or action pays the website owner a commission. Google has adopted an advertising business model within a hidden revenue model. Facebook works similarly using targeted ads.
“Buzzfeed, Medium, Google” This model is used by firms/companies that have a wide user base or user traffic. They sell digital space to advertisers. The revenue is generated by three modes- cost per click (CPC), cost per thousand (CPT), or cost per action (CPA). This model works only if the content generated engages and retains the audience. There is a tradeoff between user experience and the need to generate revenue. There is also the issue of trust. The important thing is to never sacrifice quality chasing clicks.
3. Razor Blade and Reverse Razor Blade Model
“Gillette, X-box” The strategy here is to pair a dependent good with a consumable good. The former is sold at a very low cost and the latter at a high price.
Let’s take a look at these business model examples.
Gillette Its inexpensive razor and expensive blades. A periodic income is generated for the owner. The company revolutionized this business model and is aptly named.
Apple Apple’s products such as MacBook, iPhones, etc., are priced way higher than their manufacturing and any additional production costs but the additional features such as iTunes and the play store come at a nominal cost.
Razor Blade and Reverse Razor Blade Model
4. Franchise Business Model
“McDonald’s, Starbucks“ A franchise is an agreement between a franchisor and a franchisee. The latter buys the right to use the established name, trademark, operational strategy, and sell products under their name. The fee paid is known as the licensing fee and apart from that, the parent company charges royalties which is a percentage of gross sales. The former takes care of the overall and affiliate operation strategy such as products and advertising. A franchise is a much safer operation as compared to starting a business from scratch.
“Avon, Amway, Herbalife” There are no retail stores. An army of salespeople connected with the company act as links between the company and the retailer or customer. The product demonstration takes place in the customer’s home or any business setting of the salesperson’s choosing. He/she takes a cut of the sale made, while the parent company retains the rest.
6. Peer-to-Peer Business Model
“Airbnb, Uber“ This is the buyers-meet-sellers model. The company provides a platform for that. There is no physical inventory for which the company takes responsibility. Their only duty is to assure the users of their credibility. Therefore, this is a model of minimum responsibility and risk. Revenue can be generated in a variety of ways:
Charging a fee from sellers for using the platform
Charging a fee for advertising
Getting a cut of buyers’ successful transactions
7. Subscription Business Model
“Netflix, Digit, Dollar Shave” One of the more popular and successful business models. Periodically- say every month or year, an amount is charged. A subscription model implies a continued relationship with the customer. In order to retain your customer base, new and updated content must be provided regularly. A subscription is much more beneficial than pay-per-product or lifetime access as it generates steady revenue at manageable content updation costs.
Subscription Business Model
8. Freemium Business Model
“LinkedIn, Skillshare” Companies implementing this model offer a basic set of features for free to establish how their product works. It is one of the successful business models in India. This builds a relationship with the customer. If the user is satisfied, he/she may pay an amount to access the premium features of the product, have an ad-free experience, or utilize any such service the company chooses to provide.
Companies utilizing this model are often those which offer personal or business services. LinkedIn for example services HR as well as job-seeking professionals. The platform, for a fee, makes it more sophisticated for the users to meet their requirements.
9. Customization Business Model
“Nike, Tailoring industry” Customization took the industry by storm. There was no better way to make customers feel as if the product was made for them unless you actually made it for them. With the advent of 3D printing, customization has become all the easier with the availability of build-on-demand services. Every transaction is unique to the customer. Nike’s custom shoes are an example of customization on a large scale.
10. User-Generated Content Business Model
“Quora, Youtube, Reddit“ Content is generated by the users. But the users get paid neither do they pay. Their reward is recognition for their content. An advertising business model is used within the model. The revenue is generated as per the same. A system of ranking based on ‘likes’ or popularity attracts the user base.
User-Generated Content Business Model
11. Multibrand Business Model
“Unilever, Kering Group” One corporation owns many brands none of which are marketed in relation to each other or the parent company. Take Unilever for example. It owns over four hundred brands. You might have heard of Dove, Lipton, Magnum, and Pepsodent. See how diverse their product portfolio is?
The supply chain, marketing & branding strategy, and other key operations are centralized while product research & development, and other product-specific operations are decentralized to ensure creativity. The independent nature of this model allows the corporation to enter any market from ( economical to luxury ) without affecting its existing product range and sales. Unilever is the fourth largest advertiser in the world.
12. Attention Merchant Business Model
“Snapchat” This business model aims to capture human attention for extended periods. This again has an advertising business model hidden within. Snapchat with its face recognition and corresponding ‘filters’ managed to keep its users clicking ‘selfies” nonstop. They also gather the geographic data of the user after obtaining their permission. The data is theirs to use. This is a risky business model and is dependent on the number of consumers.
Business models are not mutually exclusive. More than once you have seen how one model is hidden in another. The aim is to find the model best suited for your business. The list does not stop here. Since every company has given it’s model a unique twist, it is safe to say there are as many business models as there are companies. However, I have covered the most well-known companies or list of business models and I hope you have a better understanding of how they work.
Business model meaning: A business model is a framework that defines how you generate long-term value in terms of revenue by providing value (products/services) to your customers.
2. What are examples of business models?
Business models example: direct sales, franchising, advertising-based, and brick-and-mortar stores are all examples of traditional business models. There are hybrid models as well, such as businesses that combine internet retail with brick-and-mortar stores or with sporting organizations like the NBA.
3. What is a startup business model?
A business model explains which consumer pain your startup chooses to relieve, why your solution works better than competing ones and how big a wedge a company can drive between what customers are willing to pay and the costs.
OTT platforms have been growing in India at a fast pace. The OTT market in India is expected to emerge as the world’s sixth-largest by 2024. The OTT market is also expected to grow at a CAGR of 28.6% in the next four years. There are currently about 40 providers of over-the-top-platforms (OTT) in the country.
India saw a 30% rise in the paid subscribers on OTT platforms. The total number of subscribers is now at 29 Million (around INR 212 crores). The increasing viewership and the exponential growth of the OTT platforms in the country have led the government to put in new rules and regulations for the OTT platforms. The government wants OTT platforms to be accountable for their content.
The recent issues by certain communities on the web series released by the OTT platforms and considering various other reasons, so the government has come up with the new regulations and rules.
OTT platforms will have to formulate a grievance mechanism which will consist of three levels. The rules require two levels of self-regulation.
First level
First level is a self-regulation by the OTT platform by appointing a grievance redressal officer. The officer will be responsible for redressals from various individuals. This will be part of the OTT platform.
Second level
Second level is an institutional self-regulatory body. It will comprise the industry experts in the field of OTT. This self-regulatory body will be headed by a retired supreme court or high court judge. It can also be headed by other famous or respected personalities in the relevant industry.
Third level
Third level is a regulatory body which will be interdepartmental. The committee will be set up by the government. This committee will hear the appeals arising out of the decisions taken at the second level. This regulator body will also take up complaints referred by the Ministry of Information and Broadcast (MIB).
The Ratings
Last year the government had issued rules to provide ratings for the OTT contents proposed by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India). They will be similar to the age-sensitive categorizations which are U/A, U/A7+, U/A13+, U/A16+, etc.
The OTT platforms are required to self-categorize the contents on these five age-based categories. It is an initiative by the government to bring in censorship to the OTT platforms.
The OTT platforms are required to differentiate all films, series, and other shows based on certain parameters.
First parameter
First Parameter would be the age of the viewers. The OTT platforms will have to classify their contents based on a different age. This is mainly to avoid children from watching A-rated films, series, or other shows.
This method is already part of the movies released in the theatres. An individual who is below the age of 18 will not be allowed to watch an A-rated movie in a theatre.
Second parameter
Second parameter would be according to the themes and messages. Again, it is a step by the government to ensure that the children are watching relevant content.
Third parameter
Third parameter would be to classify the OTT contents would include based on violence, nudity, sex, language, substance abuse, horror, content, tone, and impact the target audience
Fourth parameter
Fourth Parameter would be enabling of parental locks. Certain OTT platforms like Netflix already have parental lock enabling features. With the introduction of these new rules, it will be mandatory for all the OTT platforms to provide a parental lock for their contents. Parental locks are supposed to be activated for contents classified as U/A 13+ or above.
Dealing with complaints of the users will be a big challenge for the OTT platforms in India. India has a diverse culture and beliefs. A certain community would find an issue with a content while others would be fine with it. The demand will differ according to the communities.
It is not clear how OTT platforms are expected to practically address grievances from different users. While some content may be found offensive by a certain community, it would be popular among the other community.
FAQ
What is an OTT platform?
OTT (over-the-top) is a means of providing content over the internet at the request and to suit the requirements of the individual consumer.
How many OTT platforms are there in India?
There are currently over 40 providers of over–the–top media services (OTT) in India.
Is YouTube an OTT Platform?
Yes, YouTube comes under OTT Platform.
Conclusion
The oversight mechanism introduced by the government will increase the power of government in the overall operations of the OTT platforms in India. However, an institutional self-regulation mechanism will help the users to express their concerns. It will help them express it through a formal channel within certain time frames.
The fine print of the rules is yet to be made public. Some experts said that regulation of OTT is considered Unconstitutional. It is expected that India’s new rules on the OTT platforms will increase the content-related quarrels.
Until now the content on the OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, etc. was unregulated, it wouldn’t be the same moving forward.
Vibhavari Madki
